Never before had a Big 12 team in any sport won a league title and not advanced to the national tournament. In fact, no women’s soccer team had ever been declined an invite after winning the regular-season championship of a BCS conference.

When Blitz later spoke with NCAA soccer officials, he said received only “politician answers.”

But one answer resonated: The Tigers’ schedule wasn’t strong enough. With the Big 12 unusually down — only Texas A&M and Oklahoma State made the tournament last season — Missouri entered selection day with an RPI of 47.

So Blitz is leaving nothing to chance this year, loading Missouri’s nonconference schedule with a line of national powers. The first four games include trips to Maryland and the Carolina Nike Classic to play Duke and defending national champion North Carolina. The Tigers also visit DePaul and Northwestern.

Their road RPI, a major factor in the tournament selection process, should be higher no matter the strength of the Big 12.

“The schedule is the one thing we can control,” Blitz said.

One other scheduling quirk: the Tigers will play five of their first seven league games at Walton Stadium, meaning their final three contests are on the road. Kansas, Oklahoma, OSU, Texas and Texas A&M visit Columbia.

BIG TEN, BIG PROBLEM?: The Missouri-to-the-Big Ten talk has naturally centered on how a potential move would impact the school’s football and basketball teams.

But how about the Tigers’ most successful non-revenue program?

Count softball Coach Ehren Earleywine among the camp hoping Missouri stays in the Big 12, though not for the reasons you might think.

“I hate the cold, and I have no desire to play in the Big Ten,” he said. “You go up to Minnesota and Michigan and Iowa and Ohio State, wind blowing 20 miles per hour and it’s 35 degrees. That’s an overrated experience. But if we play in the Big Ten, we’re going to tee it up.”

Earleywine said the new recruiting landscape wouldn’t worry him.

“The recruiting part of it doesn’t bother me at all,” he said. “We can play in any conference we want and we’re going to get kids.”

The No. 11 Tigers’ roster includes 13 players from Missouri. The seven-member 2011 recruiting class includes two commitments from California and one from Indiana.

Jason Mester, 29, a two-time All-American at Central Michigan who spent the last five seasons as Nebraska’s strength and conditioning coach, replaces long-time assistant Lee Pritts.

Mester spent two years as an assistant under former national Coach of the Year Tom Borrelli at CMU then under Mark Manning in Lincoln. Manning was named the Big 12’s coach of the year in 2008 and ’09 after leading the Cornhuskers to back-to-back fourth-place finishes at the NCAA Championships.

Mester said he called Smith immediately after he heard of the opening. On his visit, he said he was “overwhelmed” by how committed Smith and his wrestlers seemed.

“This is a great opportunity,” he said. “Brian Smith attracted me and everything that goes along with him and his system. … We’re going to push to win national titles.”

Pritts, a Tigers assistant for nine seasons over two separate stints in Columbia, was demoted to director of operations midway through last season and left the program after the year.

The Redbirds earlier this week announced Stephanie Glance, the late Kay Yow’s long-time assistant, as their next women’s basketball coach. Glance, 46, who spent 15 years alongside Yow at North Carolina State, received a five-year contract with a base salary of $185,000. Pingeton reportedly made $180,000 last season.

“We were able to attract an extremely talented pool of candidates and reach for the best,” ISU Athletic Director Sheahon Zenger told Pingeton’s former players, according to the Bloomington, Ill., Pantagraph. “Ladies, we went out and got you the best.”

Glance twice served stints as interim head coach during Yow’s battle with cancer and was widely expected to succeed her close friend. When Yow died last year, however, NC State turned to 31-year-old Western Carolina Coach Kellie Harper. Glance spent last season as an assistant at Tennessee.

TIGER EXTRAS: Kansas City and St. Louis have been named among the five finalists to host the 2013 or 2014 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. The awarded cities will be announced this week. Des Moines, Iowa, Oklahoma City and Omaha, Neb., are also in the running. Kansas City hosted the three-day event in 2003 at Kemper Arena while St. Louis, host of the 2012 meet, has done so five times since 2000. … MU soccer’s spring season ended last weekend, but there’s no break for two of the team’s stars. Junior midfielder Krista Kruse is one of 24 players at the U.S. Under-23 National Team’s weeklong training camp in Corvallis, Ore. Junior forward Alysha Bonnick is currently in Chongqing, China, practicing with the Canadian National Team. The Ottawa native debuted with the senior team yesterday in an international friendly against China … Missouri’s softball game at No. 22 Texas A&M at 2 p.m. today will be televised live on ESPN. The Tigers close their home schedule next weekend with series against Baylor.